Beckham, Partners Expected To Announce Miami MLS Team Monday

posted by Jessi Minneci & Andrew Julian -
10 months ago

Soccer legend David Beckham and his partners are finally expected to announce their new, Miami Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise next week.

The MLS board of governors recently approved a new ownership group that aims to celebrate the team's first game in an Overtown stadium in 2020. On Monday, the team's name is expected to be revealed, as well as its official colors.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and MLS Commissioner Don Garber are expected to be at the event, along with entrepreneurs Marcelo Claure and Jorge and Jose Mas, who are part of the ownership group.

The Mas brothers are the sons of Jorge Mas Canosa, who founded the Cuban-American National Foundation. Claure is the founder and CEO of Sprint.

Beckham was last in Miami for an event with Gimenez in early 2014, when he hoped to secure a stadium deal with Port Miami. But the cruise industry blocked that effort, leading to failed bids for stadiums at the Miami waterfront and next to Marlins Park in Little Havana.

The secured Overtown site sits a few blocks from the Miami River, where Northwest Sixth Street meets Sixth Avenue. The 25,000-seat stadium would be privately financed.

Beckham was awarded rights to an expansion team by the MLS when he signed with the LA Galaxy in 2007.